Flashback: There Was a Time Huma Abedin Hoped Husband Anthony Weiner Had Changed

A few years -- and a couple sexting scandals -- ago, Anthony Weiner had a second chance with his now-estranged wife, Huma Abedin

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty

A few years — and a couple sexting scandals — ago, Anthony Weiner had a second chance with his now-estranged wife, Huma Abedin.

The New York Democrat, who was forced to resign in June 2011 after he was caught sexting and sending lewd photos of himself to at least six women — none of whom was his wife, a former top Hillary Clinton aide — was on the up and up when he and Abedin sat down with PEOPLE for an interview in July 2012.

In the interview, the couple spoke candidly about their rebound from the scandal and their new family life with son Jordan, then 6 months old.

“I’ve had enormous regrets about what I put Huma through, how I let my constituents down,” Weiner told PEOPLE at the time. “But it’s not like I sit all day replaying it in my mind. With a baby, it is pretty easy to put things into perspective.”

Abedin, too, seemed optimistic about their union at the time.

“I’m proud to be married to him,” she said. “My husband did a really stupid thing. It was an extremely painful time. But there was love and a commitment to this marriage.”

“It took a lot of work to get where we are today, but I want people to know we’re a normal family,” she added tearfully.

Weiner also shot down a rumor that he might run for New York City mayor, saying he was “very happy in my present life.”

Of course, he did end up running for mayor the following year, in a campaign that very publicly imploded after his second sexting scandal came to light.

With Abedin by his side, Weiner held a press conference in July 2013 in which he admitted that he had again been exchanging sexually explicit photos and text messages with a woman online.

Days later, a source revealed to PEOPLE that despite undergoing counseling with him, Abedin was considering leaving Weiner in the wake of his second sexting scandal. “She was seriously considering what to do, thinking: ‘Maybe, I can’t do this.’ There was a possibility of leaving on the table,” the source said at the time.

To make matters worse, the entire debacle was captured on film for a documentary, Weiner. Intended to chronicle Weiner’s political comeback, the documentary instead ended up making public the couple’s private humiliation.

The documentary released in May 2016 — three months before Weiner’s third sexting scandal broke.

In August 2016, the New York Post revealed that the already disgraced politician had again been sexting with other women, and had sent one of them a photo of his crotch that also showed his young son sleeping next to him in bed.

RELATED VIDEO: Huma Abedin Splits from Husband Anthony Weiner After He’s Caught in Third Sexting Scandal

The next day, Abedin released a statement announcing the pair’s separation.

It was later revealed that one of Weiner’s sexting partners was a 15-year-old girl. On Friday, he pleaded guilty in federal court to a single count of transferring obscene material to a minor.

That same day, Abedin filed for divorce, a source confirmed to PEOPLE.